OREGON
THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2021
THE OBSERVER — A7
Oregon ends mask and social-distancing mandates
End of most restrictions marks major milestone as state moves forward into the next phase of pandemic
By ERIN ROSS
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — The era
of mandatory masks and
social distancing is at an
end in Oregon — at least,
for most people, most of the
time.
Gov. Kate Brown signed
an executive order last week
that declared an end to Ore-
gon’s mask mandate and
social distancing restric-
tions either Wednesday,
June 30, or when 70% of
adults 18 and over were
vaccinated, whichever came
fi rst. (Spoiler alert: as of
Tuesday, Oregon was over
19,000 people short of that
goal.)
“Oregon is 100% open
for business,” Brown
said at a press conference
announcing her reopening
plan on June 25.
The only places masks
are still required by state
mandate now are transit
hubs like train stations and
airports; on local, state
and national transporta-
tion like buses and airlines;
and in medical facilities.
Any Oregon business, or
any county, can still choose
to require them. So, masks
aren’t quite dead.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff /Oregon Public Broadcasting
A sign on Hwy. 26 outside of Portland encourages people to get their COVID-19 vaccination, June 28,
2021. Although the push to reopen Oregon was tied to vaccination levels, Gov. Kate Brown ultimately
eased restrictions without having met the target she set.
But in a state like
Oregon, where masks were
widely adopted before they
were required, it’s a big
change.
June 30 also marks the
start of a big shift in how
Oregon plans to manage the
pandemic.
“Going forward, it will
be up to county commis-
sioners, who act as local
health boards, and local
public health offi cials to
intervene to slow the spread
of COVID-19,” Oregon
Health Authority Director
Patrick Allen said at the
June 25 press conference
announcing the end of state-
wide restrictions. Counties
will be responsible for con-
ducting case investigations,
contact tracing, and imple-
menting social distancing
and mask requirements,
should the need arise.
The Oregon Health
Authority will focus on
collecting and reporting
data and providing support
to local offi cials through
advice, contact tracing sup-
port, vaccine allocation, and
by making sure adequate
testing is available.
The state agency will
also continue to monitor
the emergence and spread
of new COVID-19 vari-
ants, like the more-con-
tagious and more-deadly
delta variant that originated
in India and has been sim-
mering in Oregon for sev-
eral months.
Although Oregon’s vac-
cination rate is rising, Allen
emphasized that the pan-
demic isn’t over for unvac-
cinated individuals, or
people with compromised
immune systems who may
not have responded fully
to the vaccine. The unvac-
cinated population also
includes a large portion of
Oregonians: all children
under the age of 12.
“Low vaccination
rates in local communi-
ties are dry tinder for new
COVID-19 outbreaks to
emerge and variants to
evolve,” Allen said. While
many Oregon counties have
reached the state-set bench-
mark of vaccinating 65% of
those 16 and older, others
have vaccinated about 40%.
As long as a virus is cir-
culating, it will mutate —
and it is always possible
for new variants to emerge.
And variants that are better
at infecting vaccinated
people will have an evolu-
tionary advantage.
When the alpha variant,
originally called B.1.1.7
and fi rst discovered in the
United Kingdom, came to
Oregon, COVID-19 cases
in unvaccinated people
rose dramatically, and
cases in vaccinated people
rose slightly. Even though
unvaccinated people were
somewhat protected by the
vaccinated people around
them, the beta variant
off set that gain, and dis-
ease circulation in unvac-
cinated people was higher
than ever. There are con-
cerns that the delta variant
could do the same, cre-
ating COVID-19 crisis
hotspots.
The risk of a vacci-
nated person contracting
COVID-19 also goes up the
more they are exposed: not
signifi cantly, but catching
the disease is an odds game.
Vaccinated people, who
only make up 2% of recent
COVID-19 deaths, have
much better odds.
That’s why, unlike the
U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention,
the World Health Organi-
zation continues to recom-
mend masks in all indoor
spaces. Yes, even vacci-
nated people.
Bailey’s Bill reaches the fi nish line after diffi cult journey
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
SALEM — With several
strokes of her pen, Gov.
Kate Brown signed Bai-
ley’s Bill into law.
The bill, named for
Weston-McEwen High
School student Bailey
Munck, increases penalties
for criminal sexual contact
with an underage victim if
the off ender was the vic-
tim’s teacher. Munck, now
17, testifi ed to the Oregon
Senate and House judi-
ciary committees, telling
of sexual abuse in 2019
during a volleyball road
trip by Andrew DeYoe, an
English teacher and also a
scorekeeper for the volley-
ball team.
Sen. Bill Hansell,
R-Athena, who sponsored
Senate Bill 649, likely did
some mental handsprings
and backfl ips when Brown
signed the legislation
Wednesday, June 23. The
bill, despite attracting no
vigorous objections, nearly
ended up in the place
where bills go to quietly
die when they don’t make it
out of committee.
“We had to be tenacious
in ways we never expected
to move this bill,” Hansell
said.
Hansell took a few min-
utes to recap the fraught
journey of his bill. First
stop for the proposed legis-
lation was the Oregon Sen-
ate’s judiciary committee,
where Chairman Floyd
Prozanski would decide
whether to schedule the
bill for a hearing. Hansell
said Prozanski, a practicing
prosecuting attorney, was
initially skeptical about
whether such legislation
was needed.
When the bill still
wasn’t scheduled within
days of the deadline,
Hansell got worried. Con-
versations were had and
eventually the bipartisan
bill got a hearing. On
March 25, Munck testifi ed
before the committee via
video chat.
“What is
the signifi -
cant diff er-
ence between
a teacher and
Munck
a coach?”
Munck
asked sena-
tors during
the hearing.
“Do coaches
somehow
Bynum
carry more
authority
than a teacher
might?”
After
pleading
guilty,
Prozanski Munck’s
abuser spent
only two days in jail and
received fi ve years proba-
tion. He did not have to
register as a sex off ender.
If he had been her coach
rather than her teacher, he
would have received up to
fi ve years in prison.
The committee voted to
send the bill to the Senate
fl oor with a do pass recom-
mendation. But it wasn’t a
slam dunk. Three Repub-
lican senators on the com-
mittee, Sen. Dallas Heard
of Myrtle Creek, Sen.
Dennis Linthicum of
Klamath Falls and Kim
Thatcher of Keizer rou-
tinely vote against every
bill that comes before
the committee as a way
to express their displea-
sure about the closure of
the Capitol. If one Dem-
ocrat is gone, bills won’t
advance. That day, all the
Democrat senators were in
attendance. Another hurdle
jumped.
On the fl oor, the bill
passed unanimously and
headed to the House.
There, the bill hit
another wall. Rep. Janelle
Bynum, chair of the House
Judiciary Committee,
seemed ready to doom the
proposed legislation by not
scheduling it for a hearing.
If nothing happened by the
deadline, the bill was offi -
cially dead.
An Independent
Insurance Agency
The other members of
the committee dusted off a
seldom-used rule to force
a hearing. They invoked
House Rule 8.20, which
states if a majority of com-
mittee members request
a hearing in writing, the
chair must schedule it
within fi ve days. When
the members signed a
letter requesting a hearing,
Bynum obliged.
The next obstacle came
in the form of two amend-
ments proposed by Rep.
Marty Wilde, D-Eugene,
that would have replaced
most of the verbiage with
diff erent language that
refl ects Wilde’s interest in
starting a discussion on
sentencing reform. During
the hearing, Wilde spoke
about that, but acknowl-
edged he planned to vote
for Bailey’s Bill sans
amendments. All 10 mem-
bers voted aye.
When the bill reached
the House fl oor, it passed
unanimously. On June 23,
Gov. Brown signed it into
law.
Munck heard the news
on June 26.
“I felt really happy
and sort of relieved,” she
said. “There were so many
obstacles. I’m really happy
that a teacher can now be
prosecuted diff erently than
DeYoe.”
Hansell attributed the
bill’s passage to “tenacity,
teamwork and truth.”
“The bill was about
dealing with the abuse
of children and closing
a loophole in the law,”
he said. “It was a fi ght to
the bitter end to get that
embodied in Oregon law.”
He pointed to a team of
supporters that included
Munck, Umatilla County
District Attorney Dan
Primus, former Uma-
tilla County Chief Deputy
District Attorney Jaclyn
Jenkins, retired Athena-
Weston teacher John Bar-
tron, Rep. Bobby Levy,
who shepherded the bill
through the House, and
co-sponsor Sen. Kathleen
Taylor, D-Milwaukie.
He reserved his biggest
praise for Munck.
“She was the star of the
team,” Hansell said. “Bai-
ley’s willingness to step up
was huge. Not everybody
could have done it.”
The senator said he
spoke to the governor
about the possibility
of doing a ceremonial
signing with Munck in
attendance.
“I told her, ‘I want you
to meet her and her to meet
you,’” Hansell said. “She
said, ‘Absolutely.’”
He said he believes the
signing likely will take
place in the fall during the
Pendleton Round-Up. If
that happens, Munck said
she would make the trip
back to Pendleton from
Moscow, Idaho, where she
will be attending the Uni-
versity of Idaho to study
criminal justice.
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